I recall a class I taught years ago, one of the students gave me a review “great class, she is a pressing fanatic!”  Well, that is true.  In reality, pressing is what makes your sewing look professional.  I thought I would share how I have my studio set up:

angela wolf pressing 2

My all time favorite iron is the Hot Steam SGB-600 and I can’t believe how long I went without splurging on such a reasonably priced powerhouse steam iron.  This iron plugs into a standard outlet (make sure to check that when researching commercial steam irons) and has a water container that holds almost an entire gallon of distilled water.  The water container is attached to a wall and then the hose needs to hang from the ceiling or a high point.  I have ceiling tiles in my studio and I am using clips that would typically hold a plant, I think I found them at Ace Hardware.

angela wolf pressing 5

The iron came with the rubber mat, which is nice!  I added the Iron Shoe which allows you press ANYTHING and it won’t leave shiny marks – even on cheap satin and poly!  I will share more about that later.

One more thing, this iron has a powerful burst of steam and it DOES NOT leak, yeah!  Have you ever ruined fabric  from a leaky iron?  Um, this brings back a memory … years ago, I was making a custom suit for a client.  Just visualize a rich colored brown fabric – silk, wool blend.  My iron was having a bad day and a few drips (or I should say a burst of drips) later the suit ended up in the trash.  Very expensive fabric, but I couldn’t get the spots out!  I have had this iron for quite a while and have never had as much as a drop.  

angela wolf pressing 3

Did I mention, I can’t stand irons that automatically turn off!  What a waste of time, it’s never hot when you need it.  That being said I do keep around a couple inexpensive Rowenta’s for applying interfacing.  They are easy to clean, very hot, and don’t usually leak (I say that with a squint in my eye as every iron seems to have its own personality, although out of about 30 Rowenta’s I only had 2 that dripped and 1 that caught on fire – another eventful day in the studio!).

Tip: keep a tube of Ez-Off Iron cleaner around – perfect for removing interfacing gook!

Do you have a favorite iron or a dripping horror story to share?

Cheers,

Angela Wolf

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